we think those things need to have been urgently no matter what is going on in the rest of the housing financing system around us. when you then talk about issues such as what the loan limit should be i don't think if fha goes first and you look at what the rest of the system looks like, i think the need to go together. >> any other thoughts on that? >> the idea of fha having to position itself into a newly developed secondary market to me would be a real disappointment and a disservice to the american people. the administration as with any needs to define what the fha is going to do and to whom it is going to provide service. we know we need that as a part of the bolstering of our middle class which has been under much

of an attack in recent years. so we need to define the policy and make sure that policy is focused on serving those that need and i know the commissioner agrees with this completely. to my sense there's nothing that comes before that. we've identified that in the time i've run the business my father started 97% of the loans that had been injured and every one of those had been an opportunity to step into homeownership that most wouldn't have been able to had that not been there and not one of them that has paid off their loan and bought another house has gotten an fha loan. fha is a catalyst that must be preserved. it must be preserved notwithstanding all that must happen and just to look back a little on where we go in the secondary market.

it seems to me as though the critical point is we focus our attention on not the end game which we seem to want to get to particularly at the political level. we want to define clearly that permanent entity that will be at the end of the trial and tribulation. we need to make this a fertile ground of testing and chongging things to find what's best and maybe find that there are multiple things that are best and then be prepared to execute those but not limit ourselves by the idea of the in the game as opposed to the transition. >> very interesting. >> a couple things to echo with one risk of the current discussion is the notion of the reform can be penalized in the event. it can be the excuse to not do much of anything in the short

term because we will wait for that to occur. for all the reasons mentioned including fha program with certainty changes is a variety of transition steps including a lot of what bill said that means potential. the weapons is not an idea of the program but it's just as troubling and pediment to credit in the space both to make sure you're going to break the problem apart, move forward on the reform as a discussion in terms of its own activities that does require congress but also allin some of which the narrow version of the activity that does require congressional action that a lot of the transition steps and short-term solutions can move no matter what, keeping in mind that this kind of multiple forms of attack. it's going to be important but also i can see that getting very

confused in the discussion of this macrothing. >> any comments or shall we move on to the next discussion? all right let's talk about private capital. the government funding 90% of all loans at this point and we all believe private capital has to come back to the marketplace. how do you get the private capital back to the marketplace? >> i think it is a round of the marketplace. am i companies are there and raised hundreds of billions of dollars of capital this year and the have new coming into the market and new condos being formed. i think there is the desire for the capitol to get in. we have to figure out how we make that easy and importantly how we bring back that traditional credit quality aaa investors and if you take a look at what's going on relative to the securitization that has gained strength last year and early this year and it's all

released a turnaround that hire security investor so still plenty of demand to take the credit risk but how do we create a good fourth security as something we really need to focus on to make the desirable? that is what comes from our standpoint in terms of the transparency of the data access that could come from looking at all of the regulation around the securities not just mortgage reform but what are we doing, how does that affect investors security? >> you think private capital as interest in supporting middle class america are just the wellbeing of the marketplace? >> i think the interested all around. the desire to take risk and get a proper return is creating that framework to bring them back in. >> what do you think for the whole panel what is preventing private capital from coming back quicker? >> i think in part we are in a

catch-22. i think private capital already exists in the form of what is happening in the nonconforming space today as predominantly somebodies balance sheet. in the absence of the notion of where the reform is headed and what structures or what approach is going to develop in that aspect i think is a practical matter and it's very difficult for somebody to come back in and make the investment and people process to develop a robust securitization market for non-conforming activity if it's not clear what you are up against. are you competing with of the government? is that the design? in some respects it is the absence of the picture with the reform might even need i think in and of itself it becomes a strong entitlement for private capital coming into a robust securitization market.

>> so one more reason for reform to understand what capital market is competing with. interesting. >> the one point that i would add on to that is fierce been talk for a civil the government is crowding out the private capital coming in and i think understanding what the future system looks like and giving investors confidence in that i was looking at someday death last night that showed me that on the account basis in 1999 fha was doing about 1.2 million loans a year, the market was something like 32 million. today we are doing 1.2 million loans. the market is less than 9 million. >> so, you know, the -- there's also a larger question of in normal times what is the right

size -- how do you define what the right size of the market is, but demand defines that and i'm not suggesting the right size is 32 or suggesting the right size is nine but i think it's an interesting challenge that's not necessarily for example the fha is crowding out capital the market has shrunk and its shrunken substantially. >> so is the target market a consumer or is it a percentage cracks >> from my perspective, you know it's going to vary over time. it always does in terms of what the market size is and from my perspective we need to be focused on who the consumer is and not necessarily a market share. >> succumb commissioners, do you think about the implications of a non-mqm loan or as well are

you worried that some of our new definitions are going to drive more business to the government? >> first of all i think with the aqim comment out there i think that is a good move in general for the market. it's something that you all asked for and was listened to and as part of a process that is now developing its own rules out there for public comment. the comments are due any day now. so i think that we've hit the right balance of keeping the fha credit box him for fha loans and that is an important distinction to make moving forward. we've also allowed for ending

the mortgage insurance premium on top of the cost so we will keep those affordable. i think that's who the target market is. some may have a perspective on that and that is where we really have the state. >> any other comments? >> thousand mortgage lenders and 100 manuals. over and extent of lifetimes have defined what affordability is and how it can be delivered to the audience that fha wants to serve. to put another layer on that now would be to a degree to disrespect all that has been worked on, all that has been learned and modified over more than 80 years. it just seems to me as though it is unnecessary fha should equal the q m.

>> so, you know, as we think about the different bills in congress and the debate that congress is going to have to tackle, you think about the average consumer trying to voice and on this subject. it's a completely complex subject for the industry alone and all the consumers understand is that credit is tight right now. what are some of the things we can be doing to loosen up credit? >> i think a big step in the right direction would be the indemnification clarity. that aspect of providing better direction and more practical direction, not some concept of materiality. the lawyers can be date that but having to find operational standards in such a fashion if you're a lender and manufacture a mortgage loan you have the

sense of what you have to do and if you make a mistake in that journey it is your problem if you do flow required steps, risk should transfer to the buyer of the loan. i think that is completely in the control of congress come completely in control of the fha and the combination gse is. so there's been good work done in this case. there's been some progress already in terms of getting the problem size come some of the solutions more clear-cut. the step carol mentioned earlier is a step in the right direction so i think very short term that body of work bringing it to a practical conclusion would be a key step in the right direction to think that credit would become more available in a broad fashion. >> well-defined credit. can we think of anything else? i totally agree there is a big

piece of this -- >> we are talking today about shrinking the government's role in this certainly applies to how we think about interacting with fred p. and fannie but how we think about that framework in a private world as well really defining what that looks like. you also tough on the side it's great to have this agency but we are going to move beyond that. it's one thing to have the build concentrated on the high credit quality market. that's another thing to talk about in that situation where the lenders feel that same kind of stress they governor of the warrant rusk. we have clarity to follow the guidelines that will hold up over time. that is a major issue we will have to deal with going forward.

>> just to expand upon that a little bit and get a little bit off the point, the -- it sounds to me as if the lenders have their own reasons to receive the certainty doesn't accessed. and it's important that we understand both certainty and uncertainty our perceptions. they are not facts. so we operate in and we want to be more certain to do what we do and that's an important piece. on the performance side of the extension of credit in america the extension of credit there isn't a lack of it. our problem is the individual that comes to buy a house they've had too much of it and they perform poorly. the complement where we inform the consumer getting them prepared at the earliest of ages to deal in a world of credit is

granted a critical for the future of how the borrowers are going to perform. i will take you back quickly. my father started this company in 1949 making loans to veteran of the world war who had returned, got jobs, got married and were buying a house. they never owned a home before but they never borrowed any money before. they never had a homeowner's insurance policy or any insurance policy before and now we have people stepping into this home ownership that want to participate and they've already got a credit history. it may be a good one, hopefully, but there is so much credit out there that it creates a challenge. we have to get to that peace and take care of certainty for the lenders on the other side and i think we can create a match that we need to have a vibrant and vital moving on marquette -- moving market. >> one other thing i was going

to mention i think we could do is invest in things like housing counseling and financial management and we certainly are trying to do that in our most recent back to work program we are giving people a break if they go through what they need certain conditions and they go through housing counseling. we are working with our servicers on the long term large scale research study on the impact of counseling and help people do and does that mitigate risks if you had that kind of counseling. so it is a tough nut to crack with the industry of training etc. that means to be done but i think it holds a promise for the next generation in terms of where we need to go to ensure that people are prepared.

not in deutsch in a contract and loan applications. >> the first time they missed a payment. let's get in there and what about this don't you understand? let's get people connected right away when they run into problems. >> there is a linkage between the number of topics. i agree completely on getting the designing into the system where counseling makes sense and what kind of customer profile needs that or would benefit from that. if you have the clarity of the rules the activity broadens out to the natural extension of the solution you are prepared from

that forward maybe that's where you design a some kind of counseling effort as a requirement of the process. one solution can lead to another. if you think about the body of work in front of us and sequencing and a very thoughtful step one goes to two, three, four you can link them together and bring a different sense of urgency to the whole problem. >> it is interesting when we talk about this subject of housing reform you have come up with some great ideas we can be doing today. back to the new entities and i will ask you to go first. i'm not sure we want to talk about housing goals anymore by

that definition but how do we address affordable housing needs >> there's an important question of there is and the new world order where the government is involved in some form in catastrophic risk-taking or however it ends up being defined i do think it's important that affordability be the key component for why the government is stepping in to provide some type of backstop and that goes to the ability to continue to do a 30 year fixed rate mortgage and i know a lot of people might say that isn't the best product for everybody all the time which, you know, is also true but you know what you're pavement is going to be and that

is important to the long-term psychology of the consumer to protecting a 30-year mortgages number one. number 24 we have to recognize in the creating of the financing mechanism that there is financing available for the project is particularly the non-luxury what i call affordable so not reach restricted in come restricted but most rental housing is brought the affordable. if people rent and we need a financing system that supports the multi family as well to the >> do we agree that we need a mortgage in the u.s..

>> respective love with intellectual academic debate you want to have about it is so embedded in the american system of housing finance i just can't imagine it being taken away without some kind of fun and consequence. the shift of the new regulatory regime almost makes it a fixed-rate predictable payment kind of product. it makes balloon mortgages and products in other parts of the world it makes some of them nearly impossible. so the system of housing finance is going to be very much driven towards the fixed rate instrument and therefore building upon that is the order of the day.

>> if i could underscore that. it seems as though the riding of the new rules continued to underline the need for the 30-year fixed-rate loan. it creates a great opportunity. the stability that comes with it is one that makes a difference for the borrowers but whose payment isn't going out next year or the following year. and obviously it is between the realistic and the cost of insurance that it's going to move. but what this does is it softens the blow. the was the critical intend so many years ago >> when we talk about a new

system, one of them is the notion that all lenders and business channels and sizes would have access to this new credit system. what are the kind of things we need to think about so we have full access? >> they do a nice job of spelling out the features of a small wonder access to make all the sense in the world. the strength of the u.s. housing market is largely year because you have a host of lenders from large to small, it has to work for all lenders large and small to be there is i take a very practical way forward. what is striking is in many

respects and there's a lot of agreement on the key principles. i think there is a broad based acceptance of the government guarantee and the acceptance that preserving the infrastructure that exists today is critical to future systems and access to all large and small so instead of thinking about the differences we need to step back and say what's left not necessarily the politically correct way of attacking the problem but there's more commonality than sometimes meets the eye. >> there is a different nuance to that question. do you think if we all agree that we need a broad access to the new entities or

securitization do you think we should build a system that has the same access today or is there an opportunity to create more access to go direct to new entities. it is to keep that level all the more level playing field to create a situation where you have an issue of the servicing assets to make that work and number two, fanny, freddie it's an important thing and having a competitive market doing things

like the securitizations platform and open access to the estimate of when to ask one more question then we will ask a final question of the panel. today you are having to thread the needle if you will between making sure we have broad access to credit for low and middle-income borrowers and at the same time protecting the fund which would still below the capitol levels. how were you thinking about that today? >> i call it walking on the edge of a knife because that is what it feels like to me most mornings when i wake up. it is a challenge to walk that fine line and i think for the first and foremost we have to get lots of actions over the past number of years extensive actions for raising premiums, tightening on the low end of the

credit box to ensure that we are moving forward rebuilding reserves and rebuilding capital, what we want to do that and we have tried to do that in a way that does not overly construct credit. some i know in this room and other places because i talked to people like bill all the time who think we have gone too far in terms of access to credit and balance to latch on rebuilding the fund. i would just say that i do feel like we have reached or we are reaching that tipping point. we are not intending to be adding on at this point. the and the thing i would say is i feel very good about where the fund is going in the long term. it's a trajectory. you look at all of the statistics on the early payment delinquencies that are way down and the recovery is on the

existing portfolio partly thanks to the servicer is helping us with some new programs. everything is on the upward momentum so why have a lot of confidence that we have rebuilt the fha appropriately and that will be a good thing in the long run. >> may i go back and i know the time is short but parity which was mentioned earlier, access is critical. the access to a cash window, the ability to service on the part of the release we get servicing to the communities but i think most importantly, we need to have a system that is open. we've had a long history of the market being opaque.

that secrecy has exacerbated the perception on the part of those that participate to believe that it's even more dramatic perhaps then it is. we don't know. maybe it is as dramatic or maybe not. all we are told is no it's not as dramatic as you think with no openness. if our government is going to be involved, then it ought to be open to all of us whose government is. >> thank you. so, sound bite version and then we will wrap up as you think we will end on an aspirational note. what is our biggest opportunity next year if he were to think about what is the biggest opportunity for the industry housing reform or otherwise what is one on your list whoever comes up with one first can go first. >> creating a housing policy.

we have to get them off the defensive end on to the offensive. we cannot continue to operate in this shroud of housing that led to the second worst financial crisis in modern times. there for housing ought to sit in the back room and wait its turn to be forgiven and then move out. we've got to step forward, adopt policies, come together and get america particularly the middle class into housing. ..

>> time to move past the past. to keep redredging up what happened, five, 10 years ago, hard to see what good that does. to move the collective energy going forward, keep in mind, homeowners are one at a time and the dream of homeownership is alive and well. they want to be homeowners. it is our job to make that happen. you think of the collective power in this room, the mba, to push energy forward how to make credit more broadly available, that is pretty exciting, we definitely should see in 12 months time a lot of transition nary steps should be progress, if not completed we should see real progress. i would hope whether short or

long-term i would hope we see meaningful progress on the broader product how to how to handle gse reform as well. >> commissioner? >> unanimous. turn the page on the past. create stability for the housing market in the future. i think we have opportunity to do that this year. >> wonderful. a lot of a alignment and a lot of partnership going on. i thank you. ladies and gentlemen, let's thank our panelists. [applause] tom, bill, mike, commissioner, thank you very much. and we are adjourned. ♪

♪ [inaudible conversations] >> if you missed any of this conversation about mortgages with the bankers association you can find it online at c-span's video library, c-span.org. news about the housing market today from the associated press. contracts on existing u.s. homes plunged last month. the number of americans who signed contracts to buy existing homes fell in september to the lowest level in nine months. the ap cites higher mortgage rates and rising home prices. the mortgage rate reached a two-year high in august. generally there is a one to two-month lag between contracts being signed and completed sales. so that drop in contracts last

month could mean we'll see decline in the final sales over the next couple months that again from the associated press. and as we move on now taking a look at the u.s. capitol, the house and senate returning today beginning conferences on the budget, the farm bills possibly water resources. negotiations begin wednesday on the budget. this is the first attempt in four years for both chambers to develop a spending blueprint. on the floor of the house today they will take up bills dealing with veterans issues. votes at 6:30 p.m. eastern time. in the senate, starting with general speeches at 2:00 eastern an at 4:30 taking up the nomination of richard griffin, jr., to be the general counsel of the national labor relations board. a vote expected at 5:30. mr. griffin was appointed to the board during a recess appointment. he served a year-and-a-half before it was decide the appointment was invalid.

reports are that the senate will meet 60-vote requirement for the legislation to move ahead. the senate here on c-span2. two hearings scheduled this week dealing with the implementation of the federal health care law. we'll have those on c-span3. tomorrow marilyn tabner, the administration of the centers for medicare and medicaid, she will testify before the house ways and means committee. we'll have live coverage, 10:00 eastern time. wednesday, hhs secretary cath lean sebelius will be taking questions from the house energy and commerce committee. it is her first appearance before a congressional committee since the federal government health insurance website opened on the 1st of this month. we'll have that live 9:00 a.m. eastern also on our companion network, c-span3. >> the courtship of beth wallace and harry truman began at her home in independence, missouri. >> when my grandfather visited independence, which is 26 miles from where he lived at the time

in grand view, this is 1910, he often stayed across the street at the nolan house where his aunt and two cousinses lived. one afternoon he was over there with his cousins, with the family, and his aunt brought in a cake plate that my great-grandmother, imagine wallace, imagine gates wallace, had given her a cake and mrs. nolan ad cleaned the cake plate and asking if anybody would take it over. my grandfather moved with what my mother once described as something approaching the speed of light and grabbed the cake plate and ran over here and rang the bell on the front door in the hope of course that my grandmother would answer the door and she did. and she invited him in. that's the beginning of their formal courtship in 1910. >> best truman as we continue our series on first ladies, live at 9:00 eastern on c-span and c-span3 and c-span radio --

radio and c-span.org. >> as part of c-span's american profiles we sat down recently with two lawmakers, senator joe manchin of west begin and republican congresswoman cathy mcmorris rogers. we'll look at our interview with senator manchin. talks about growing up in farmington, west virginia, his political career and his predecessor, the late robert bid and growing up in farmington. >> senator joe manchin, democrat of west begin, you are a true west virginia native. >> oh, absolutely, through and through. >> where were you born? >> i was born in fairmont, the closest to my little town of farmington but farmington is where i really raised and grew you and spent my childhood until i went to college. >> how many brother as sisters. >> i have two brothers and two sisters. there are five of us. in my family cousins there are 20 of us really raised close together, very short distance.

my grandparents were called mama kay and papa. papa joe and mama kay. it was a mayberry. >> what were your parents like and did you talk politics growing up? >> politics was a big part of our life but not something i desired to be in. i enjoyed it, being around it. my uncle james is a flamboyant, colorful politician if you will. he was youngest house delegate member back in 1948. i'm thinking, 47 or 48. he was elected. he was elected when he was 20 years old. you had to be 21 to serve. he turned 21 so he was legal to serve. he was one of the famous civil rights way back before it was even thought about and he was defeated on that issue. he didn't think that there should be two sets of books, one for black children, one for white children. he thought they ought to have

the same, and they defeated him on that back in 1950. he served with robert bid. family was always very much involved. i never forget, had to be 10 years old working with papa's grocery store, we all had to start working there. i heard, just, got awfullest racket and arguing back and forth. i went back there and there was robert bid and my grandfather discussing the bible. different parts of the bible and different iverses all this and what they meant, true meanings. and my grandfather said, they stopped in the middle of their dialogue, i think you might want to meet this person. his name is robert c. byrd. he is running for united states senator. so that was many, many years ago as you can imagine. anyway the sixty campaign changed our family because john kennedy making the west virginia a battleground. we're catholic and knowing that that was going to be a big part of this election is, you know,

could he break that religious barrier? i never thought there was a barrier. in my little town everybody kind of worked in the coal mines and my father and grandfather had a grocery store and furniture store. everyone was always equal. everyone made about the same amount of money. i never knew, there was no classes or knew of i could recall and i never thought religion was a problem because my methodist friends or baptist friends or whatever, gospel friends, were all the same. anyway that was a big thing. got me interested. i will never forget one night we were watching the news or something and they were talking about this, if john kennedy got elected the pope would run the country. and i looked at my mom, i said, mom, i don't think they know the catholics we know. and so with that being said, you know that was put to rest. but my uncle became a big part of the john kennedy entourage if you will and he was really big

and he and teddy were very good friends. the president always wanted james to speak as well as he said. brother jimmy, you're in charge of little brother teddy to make sure he is in oratorical skills. there are in some of the books if you read memoirs of john kennedy. every time he would get down he wanted teddy to imitate james to make him feel good. that got me interested. i saw this young vivacious president which all i can remember was eisenhower before that and he was more of a grandfatherly figure, liked to play wolf. that is all i knew. now i see this young person who is the leader of our countries that plays football and athletic and sales and swims, really got me excited about that, then i went and got a scholarship playing football at wvu. i went up there and met my wife. we were married at wvu. i got hurt playing ball.

my fathers, grandparents, the whole block burned down. we lost everything. the coal mine blew up in 1968. all this happened in 196in very short period of time. 58 miners, 78 miners got blown up and lost their lives. more than 50 are still entombed, my dear uncle john was one of the fatalities there. but you see i grew up in the, with the coal fields understanding the real challenges we have but also the opportunities they provided. my next door neighbor growing up was pinchy dunn mire. that had to be 1954. so i was seven years old. harry used to come play ball with me. he was across the street. one time harry didn't come home. mercer his wife, when is pinchy coming home? the mine just blew up. pinchy is going to be late

tonight, honey. would two outleads went by, how will she tell the little 7-year-old boy that pinchy is not coming home, i recall that, i really do. fast forward to 1968, my uncle, the same person that lived in the house that pinchy lived in on the cutting machine, got blown up, john any, my parent's neighbor. this is part of who we are. fast forward to when i become, got involved, and how i got involved. just kind of morphed into that. i was always in business. >> i want to come back to a couple of these points. go back to the 1960 campaign of the west virginia was predominantly protestant state. john kennedy's win in west virginia was significant. did you see him campaign? did you work for him? >> no, i was 13 years of age. i never forget one day i'm in the, i'm in the basement of, we lived in a garage apartment, but i was in the basement on the

go-kart. my mom kept saying, come upstairs. i want you to meet some people. mom, i'm all dirty and greasy. no, i want you to come up. it might be history. meet them. it was kennedy brothers, bobby, teddy, having spaghetti, mom feeding them all. getting involved in the excitement of this whole race, got our family but got a whole state involved, it really did. it was turning.not just for them but for us. uncle jimmy became state director of the farmers home administration under kennedy administration. my dad, our car was in the parade. john kennedy rode, we were proud of that. 1950 convertible chevrolet, white interior, big impala. john kennedy rode in that. my dad came home and told us about taking him around. uncle jimmy went with the president, kennedy and his brothers and shared stories. i was kind of involved once

removed if you will but right in the heart of it, i would say went here, we were there, what they did and how the president was such a regular person, really, really liked coming from a complete different culture if you will. >> this year of course the 50th anniversary of his assassination. do you remember where you were that friday morning? >> i remember exactly. it was afternoon by time i heard. i just come off of lunch and we were going into english class. i was a junior in high school. just got my drivers license in august. became 16. so, i was in just walked in the class and, and, our teacher walked in. simon matthews, i never forget it, mr. matthews was one of our coaches on the football team. simon paul said the president was just shot. i won't forget the reaction. mr. matthews, quit kidding. i'm not kidding.

i'm serious. the president has been assassinated and y'all need to go home. we beelined home. my whole family, my brand father, never seen him leave work for anything. my brand father was there, my father, uncle jimmy who was working for the kennedys at farmers home, everybody was there, just out of the clear, my grandfather says, we have to go to washington. well you know me, 16, just had my washington i volunteered to drive. papa had a big ol' 58 cadillac and i never for get it. we all piled in. i had me, uncle jimmy, papa and seven or eight cousins ha had to be in this car. we drove to washington where my sister was working in washington, living in arlington. we got here and my grandfather said, i've got go to the casket. so he stands in line all night long to pay homage to the president. and then, i can remember as little kids, if you ever see

pictures on pennsylvania avenue you see kids hanging in trees, that was probably us. because we couldn't see. i remember when the blackjack, old john, john and all of them came by and casket, so many memories. every time i come and visit my sister i would go out to the grave to say a little prayer. and, it was very easy to walk, just drive to the cemetery and president's grave was right there and eternal flame was there and i would say a little prayer and bless myself and go on. one day i'm going there, all of sudden security was everywhere. i thought something had happened. but that is when they started just, became, more than the crowds became more than just letting everybody just walk there. they had to have some kind of a order to this, to these visits. so, that happened a few years after the assassination. >> from your perspective did we change as a country after his assassination? >> in my eyes we did. i'm a 16-year-old junior in high

school and i didn't feel as safe as i had before. for some reason you grew up, i grew up in the most peaceful time the country ever seen after world war ii. i was born in 47. after that up until vietnam, korean war escaped, i was too young to really realize what was going on there, but it was very easy, good time in america. then all of a sudden like, it was shattered. and, we had that and within a few years we had martin luther king and then just all the saw the country was really not it, really wasn't as cohesive as farmington was, let's put it that way. made us understand it was a different place out there. >> let me ask you about your parents and you mentioned the businesses they were in. >> my parents basically, my father was an italian, full italian. my grandparents came over here from italy. emigrated in 1900. my father, best as we know our name was mancina.

i gone back to the little village they were from. my mother is from czechoslovakia i'm second generation. they were born here. both parents migrated to america. both of them end up in the coal fields six miles apart. one in rachel, one in farmington. both of them had little grocery stores, both grandparents. grandpa gus and papa joe. my father, when he got out of the service in 46 start ad little furniture store besides the grocery store in farmington. we grew up in the retail business. i always said politics is retail, retail politics is simply knowing who your customer is, and making sure they're satisfied. give them a product with good value and great service. because you live and die by the satisfaction of your customer. i took that same approach to government when i went into it but i had been 35 years old.

so i had been in business off and on, since i was 10 years old with my grandparents so i learned this and they really were the once. my, my mother and father and grandparents and aunts and uncles really who i am. thing people don't know, we grew up in an area that there was, we had tracks on, railroad tracks ran where the coal came out of the coal mines and we had a creek, buffalo creek. so all of us little kids living down in between that, every time the train whistle blew, my grandmother went insane something would happen. she would guard the tracks. what she didn't know we jump on the train and ride up into town. if she ever known that she would be crazy. it provided lead for singers for fishing lines. everything. coal that fell off is how people would heat their house. that is what we lived w but my

grandmother was the most kind, compassionate, she was a one-woman social program. if anybody need ad place to say they would come to mama kay. she made all the little kids conscious of our social responsibility by white washing the basement, keeping it clean so somebody could stay there if they needed it. had a shower and little bathroom in the basement. didn't have much. but she shared. we had all the people that would ride the rails back in '50s. a lot of people were still riding the rails, if you know what i mean. we had names for everybody. wheel wear row whilely. peg leg peg. >> what was your nickname? >> we had nicknames for people that came to stay with mama kay. she had three rules. you had to stay sober. i have too many kids here. mama kay, i will feed you take care of you but you can't swear. you can't drink and you got to work. that is the good example.

so i'm a product of my environment. i have saw people with nothing but lived by rules. you had to do something. papa used say, no work, no eat. i understood that very well. so when i see people that are down and out, i said, do something. but you have to, some people need a little bit of help. mama kay i watched her, she helped them but they got back up and made something of their lives. i saw young girls in farmington got pregnant out of wedlock and left their house because their parents threw them out. they would come to mama kay. would i come home after school and see mama having lunch with the daughter after she through them out. they went back home. had a little baby, most productive kid in the world. so i've seen it all. i am who i am because of where i'm from and product of environment i grew up in the family i was in. >> you ran for governor once. lost in the primary. talk about customer service. why did you lose? what did you learn?

>> i didn't do a good job. i don't think i did good enough explaining who i was and how i thought the state could be and how we would change the state. i come from business. i wouldn't be for labor. my goodness, i grew up in a labor town with everyone, my unhe will cans worked in mines. i just didn't project it properly. so when it was over i knew one thing,. i november lofted a race before that. my son was sitting with me. i never forget that. honey, we've won a lot of races to be honored and serving people. tonight is not going well. we'll not win this. i said you know what? it is easy to win. now tough show class. i've watched people walk out and blame everybody. there is only one person's name on that ballot. that's yours. and if you can't take blame for whatever went wrong, and i never plamed a soul for not voting me. i blamed me for not selling the ideas i had for the state.

and, i lost that election. and then after that, i thought i was, did all i could. now i will go back and get back in business and enjoy my private life with my wife and three children. we start having grandchildren. we have eight now. so, with all that, i was really enjoying that. then i got pulled back in. how i got pulled back in some of the people who worked against me and defeated me in '96 said we think we made a mistake. we would like to work with you. i said fine. i want to work with you too. i will probably make more mistakes than you. >> senator manchin, let me ask about your uncle that was killed in 196in a mining accident. as governor you had two significant accidents at abu branch and sago. what did you take from personal experience to what happened as governor of west begin? >> i had three. 206 in january, we had sago. three weeks later we had air

coma, with two miners in there, basically same scenario. we couldn't find them. then two upper big branch where we lost so many wonderful miners. only thing i knew when i got to sago, i said this before, no one gives you a manual when you become governor. you rely on everything that you ever, ever experience you ever had, everything you learned, and you relied on it. you really dug deep into who you were as a person. the thing i knew, i remembered flash back to six at this eight. i was 21 years of age, uncle john. uncle john gus is my mother's brother, younger brother, very close to us. and he borrowed my gun to go hunting. right before he got killed in the mines. and he slipped and fell and i had a brand new 12 gauge shotgun and put scratches. uncle john said no bad. i will get that fixed. i said, uncle john, don't worry

about it. i still have the same gun with the same scratches. anyway, i remember everyone sitting at company store waiting for some news, news didn't come. sometimes they sit for a day and never heard a thing. and i said, you know what? to me that is really what is hurtful and cruel. and i always thought if i was ever in position to give relief to people that there is ways to do it and information was one. might not be a whole lot of new things to tell you but i'm going to tell you something every couple hours. i want you to know we're doing everything we can. and anything you have heard, any questions you ask us. if i don't have answer, i'll find out. i'm at the command center at sago and upper, and i can find out. i want you to have the facts. i will not talk to the press until i talk to the families. so i knew, i learned that basically from watching my mother and my aunt and agony they went through not knowing anything. then they heard the mine was going to be sealed, basically

entombing my uncle and all that because it was so dangerous but i learned from that and i figured there was a way. and i knew one thing. that families depend on that paycheck. and if i could do anything as a governor then i'm going to sit down with the people who are the owners of the mines and say i'm going to ask you to do one thing. you make sure they never miss a paycheck. you make sure they don't miss a paycheck. if you want to compound problems we have right now, this family can't take care of itself through the most difficult times until we get all of this straightened out. you've got to continue a paycheck if nothing happened. we were, and i knew that. i knew that was just part of our way of life. you know, people, they need that. they had to take care of their families and themselves. so some of those things came back because of my experiences in living in the coal fields and being around it. i would have never, you could have never learned that, no one could have taught it to you unless you lived it.

>> is it safer today to be a mineer? >> absolutely, absolutely, and we're getting safer. i always said this if you can't mine it safe don't mine it. but you know what? you have to empower the miners. you don't have enough inspectors. you will never have enough inspectors. you can have all the laws and rules in the world but if you don't have a company, if you don't have, and i'll use consol energy, i know one very well because they're big in my area where i grew up. consol energy take taken the approach if one person is in unsafe situation they can pull the plug and shut the mine done. you heard other situations if someone stop ad shift or be fired or threatened with losing their job, that is what we have to change. that is what has to be changed and i think it has. miners, i put up hotlines that kept them protected. i want them to let me know if there was unsafe condition afraid of their job. we had to change that whole attitude and i think we have and we're doing things by level two

to make it safer. but the bottom line we have some of the best miners in the world, we really do. these are the salt of the earth. they're as patriotic as our veterans and i say that with all the respect and love with our veterans because most of our miners are veterans. they look at mining what they're doing for this country and energy they provide for this country. if it wasn't for the mines and miners you wouldn't have the economy, we wouldn't have the country we have today. we wouldn't be the greatest economy in the world. they were able to give us affordable, dependable, reliable energy and the thing that i have a hard time here in washington is fighting and making people understand that coal is part of our mix, largest part of our energy mix. work with my. don't make it more difficult. help me find technology we can continue to clean up the environment. we've done more in the last two decades than ever in the history. we can even do more. we like to think we would have a

partner. right now in west begin, we think we're working, our government is working against us. i have to be honest with you, i think they are too. i'm trying to keep every door open i can work with them. but i'm not growing to sit back and them not know what we do and how hard we do it an how much energy we provide for this country and the coal that makes still some of the best coking coal in the world comes out of west virginia. our state has done some heavy lifting. we don't mind that. we're good workers. we'll still do the heavy lifting but we would like to someone to recognize and appreciate without condemning news based on all that, you've been in washington a couple of years. is the senate what you expected? is washington what you thought it was going to be? >> no. absolutely not. you know i looked at it through the eyes of what i saw through robert c. byrd and his reverence for this great institution and i would have thought when everything, when chips was down,

always country first, state second, politics third. i would have always thought that. really not what i see. what i do see, i see 100 good people in the senate. i really do. i don't, say i have anybody that i don't like. i like everybody. i try to get along with everybody. but i do see, i would question some motives and reasons, what the purpose of your service. i go back to john kennedy and i keep thinking, i watched the speech on television, 13 years old. ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. that means, you know, we have, it is our country. we own it. constitution says we the people. so if we own it you have to take ownership, you have to take care of it like owning a car. change the oil. routine maintenance. take care of it, and now it seems like we have a country where people are saying, ask not what your country did to you but

what you can do to it. that's long way in 50 years. and so, i want to get back. we're still the greatest country on earth. all the problems we have we can fix. economically, we can fix all this but we've got to start putting our country first again. it is about this great country. this country does well, my state of west virginia will do perfectly fine. if my state does great, people in my state are going to do well and i'm here for that purpose, how i can serve retail government, how do i serve my customers and that is the constituents and everybody in my great state of west virginia. >> what is next for you? >> well, what is on my agenda, what i like to get done is get finances in order. i'll give you another thing. my grandfather papa, one time i never father get, came home, 10, 11 years old, pap parks i saw charlie up on the street. what a beautiful person charlie is. he is a great guy, isn't he, joe? papa, nice person you ever met. charlie would give you the shirt

off his back, wouldn't you? charlie would. get what, charlie didn't have shirt to give you. didn't plan well enough. 10-year-old kid. talk about bursting your bubble. tell you one thing if you want to help people you keep yourself strong, not just mentally, not just physically but financially. talk is cheap. you want to help somebody? give a little money, give them something. hey, papa, can i have 5 doll lal,. no problem, honey, take broom and shovel. i'll be right back, pap past. did 50% and i can take me up on it. he had it down to a science. so i'm thinking financially i take the oath of office, i'm standing on the capitol steps and coiled january, 2005 and my grandfather popped up in front of me, keep yourself strong. my knew my state wasn't. i knew we could be. i put all the efforts.

i had a big mandate. i won by a big mandate. i used every bit of capital, two things you don't waste in politics, don't waste a mandate and a crisis. make something good out of them. i had a great mandate and i was determined to fix the finances of our state. i think we did do that, i, with my administration working hard, with support of legislators, friends of mine, we worked hard an turned the finances. we went through the recession better than most any state in the nation, one of the top three states in the nation. never cut back any education, never laid any teachers off, never cut back on any of our programs for our children, our seniors. we expanded programs for people in need because we had ourself financially strong. i come here, my number one goal, fix the finances, fix the finances. raising debts don't fix debts. sooner or later someone has to fix the debt. and that's what i'm hire. that's what i hope to be able to

achieve. i'm working very hard across the aisle, talking to everybody, is there a way we can move forward and fix our debt? i really became, really engrossed in the bowles-simpson approach t was only thing i saw that was bipartisan. one of the first things i saw when i got here, bipartisan, stayed bipartisan and grew bipartisan and we couldn't get a vote. we were three votes short out of that committee. there was 11 people on it. they needed 14. they got 11 votes. five republicans and six democrats. when is the last time we had six and five agreed on a financial direction for our country? and couldn't get a vote on the floor. that's what drives me. >> let me conclude on a couple of personal notes. our wife is -- your wife is here back in west virginia. >> my wife is president of the state board of education in west virginia. she is there most of the time. she gets up a week a month. i try to go back home on weekends. we have a little place in tucker

county. we'll meet there or i have will go to charleston or fairmont where our home is and my son's there. i grew up. i have two daughters up in pennsylvania. so about an hour 1/2. so we try as a family to get together as much as possible. but it's difficult. i'm, i never thought i would be this home sick. >> let me ask about your kids, what do they think about your dad's profession? >> we have a lot of conversations. my kids are very independent and into it and we enjoy it and have good conversations. >> do you debate a lot? >> we talk a lot, okay? of course the girls, the girls in my family are very strong. very opinionated if you will and very strong-willed. all successful in their own rights, as mothers, as business career, people they have all done well. my son too. so, we have some good conversation. on social issues, on fiscal issues. and it's, it is quite a dinner

party. >> is there another office you would like to hold? >> i really, i haven't thought of that. i really don't. i keep thinking, i got so much more work to do here to figure this one out. you know, i really, i felt good and very comfortable as being governor. i was ready and prepared. okay, i thought i was ready and prepared here. i watched senator byrd. there is so much more i need to learn and how do you get through this toxic atmosphere and how do we get people to realize we're here for a purpose. and that is for our country and for our state, not for ourselves or gore our political parties. i'm a proud es west virginia democrat and very proud american and extremely proud mountaineer. with all that being said i want to put it in proper context, and hope i convince some of my colleagues to do the same. i have a lot work to do to figure this out. >> senator joe manchin.

>> appreciate it. >> our next american profiles interview, republican congresswoman cathy mcmorris rogers. she talks about her family and growing up in kettle false, washington. and serving on capitol hill as house republican leadership. we talked to her for over just a half an hour. >> representative cathy mcmorris rogers, republican from washington state, you're part of the republican leadership. you're the highest ranking woman. do you have a voice with speaker boehner and leader cantor and gop leadership? >> yes. i think it is an important voice i bring to that leadership table and daily i'm sitting down with the speaker, with majority leader eric cantor, our whip kevin mccarthy as we're strategizing what is happening on any given day as well as what we face a few months down the road and i, on the second woman to hold this position for the republicans.

deb bra price was conference chairman earlier. but i'm proud of the fact that we have four women now around the leadership table for the republicans and it is, it is different perspective, different priorities at times that i think being a woman brings to the terrible and it is, it's and i do believe that i am heard and, that my input is valued as i present it around that table. >> why politics? why did you decide to first unare for the statehouse in washington and later congress? >> right. i'm one of those kid that when i was in high school i wasn't sure what i wanted to do, what i wanted to be, what i wanted to major in and my dad had always had an interest in politics. he ran for office when he was in his 20s. he ran for county commissioner and lost but he always dabbled in politics and i had grown up, you know, at least, watching campaigns from afar but out of

college i got involved in a family friend's campaign for the statehouse in kettle falls washington, our home. that was my entry into politics. what i learned was that, first of all, this was somebody that i could really believe in, get excited about supporting and then when he won his race and he offered me a job, that it was, a way in which i could really make a difference for my community and the people that we, we were representing in olympia at that time and i found a lost fulfillment in that and purpose in being a part of something that was bigger than me. and so i wasn't expecting to run for office. i really imagined myself, maybe being, more behind the scenes, but, soon after that, our state senator retired and my boss was appointed to fill the seat in the senate and he encouraged me

to consider the appointment for the statehouse seat. so i kind of, kind of got in the back door but it was, it was a great opportunity for me and i mustered up all the courage that i had. you know what? i'm going to go for this. once i got the appointment, committed to the being the best representative i could be for people of northeastern washington. >> born in salem, oregon. when did your family move to washington state? >> we moved to washington state when i was a junior in high school. both sides of my family have deep roots in the pacific northwest. they came out to the northwest on the oregon trail and my mom's family was in the timber industry. my dad's family has always been in agriculture. so i have grown up involved in agriculture. my family owned an orchard and fruit stand in kettle falls, washington, where we raised

cherries, peaches apricots. it was where i really learned a good worth ethic and had the experience working alongside my brothers as well along with my parents in building that business and the success of that business. it was, it was a great experience for me and i'm grateful to my parents, you know, my dad has a high school education and my mom had a scholarship to go to oregon state but dropped out as a freshman when her dad passed away. she was determined that her kid were going to graduate from college. and i'm grateful for the sacrifice my parents made so that i could go to college, my brother could go to college and have the opportunity for a better life. >> are they still alive? >> they are. they have sold our orchard and they actually divorced but they're both in spokane. my mom has remarried and we often reminisce that neither of

us ever imagined that one day cathy would be serving in congress. and it is amazing course of events that led me to this experience but it also reinforces in my mind that the american dream is a alive and that in america, you can, you can be anything that you want to be. and that, you know, i have lived that. you know, when i was going to college, it was, you know, for as long as i can remember, my parents had me saving my money so i could go to school when i had 4-h animals and sold them at the fair. you save the dollars so you can go to college one day, cathy. i worked my way through school. worked at mcdonald's in the drive-through and worked, did, always had housekeeping duty in school which was not anyone's favorite, that is what i did 3 1/2 years when i was in college, worked a variety of other jobs so i could go to

school. i have seen in my own life what a difference that made. and the opportunities that i have had. i since went on and had my mba from the university of washington. took out student loans to do that. some of the student loans we've been debating here in congress recently, i'm still paying off those student loans but i'm grateful that this is a country where no matter who you are, no matter where you come from, that you can come here, that you can pursue your dreams, work hard, and really do with your life. >> finally your twitter account. you've been tweeting out pictures including one in the mcdonald's uniform. how hold were you? >> that was when i was in college. it was a summer job i had at that point in the mcdonald's in callville, washington. so that would be the, probably 1986, my freshman year in college. >> the "national journal" said you're one of the top 10

republicans to follow on twitter. how often do you tweet? >> i try to do it, my goal for at least to do it once a day. it is combined effort between my staff and myself. so, it is, you know sometimes they're tweeting. sometimes i'm tweeting but i find that it is really beneficial for me just to see in the course of a day, i condition easily check my twitter on my blackberry and kind of get a sense what the hot top i cans are and what's on people's minds or what their reaction is to what is going on in congress. . .

ever be in leadership and i am here because my colleagues encouraged me to run for leadership. people back home will remember the speaker and here i'm in leadership and ask that question. my focus is to be the best representative that i can be for the people that i represent. >> if the opportunity arises would you be interested? >> it's really hard for me to say. it's always a balancing act taken into consideration the demands of having two kids and a

third on the way asthma well as my responsibilities here on capitol hill. over all the decisions you have to make any given time for you as well as your family. >> the first woman in congress to have a baby twice and expecting a third. your son was diagnosed with down syndrome. what has that taught you over the years? >> i was single, was elected to congress and for me the best thing that has happened since i was elected is meeting brian rogers and getting married and becoming a wife and a mother and our oldest was born with down syndrome. it is and what you expect. it is and what you dream, but i sit here today and i am a better person because of cole and what he's taught me. i'm a better legislator. he's given me a passion for what

i do. >> how so? >> when you first get the news it's the most difficult news that you receive as a parent. but i look back on it now and i was immediately welcomed by the disabilities community. people all across this country that have been through similar experiences and first of all just reach dhaka and said it's going to be okay. that meant everything to us at that point in having people different people contact me. i quickly decided you know what, first of all we are going to do everything we can to maximize the development. we want to see what he can the. so you learn everything you can about down's syndrome or whatever disability it may be

then i became grateful for those that walked this path before me and the resources that are available today that were not available but long ago. you think about early intervention, early education the act for early education to the children of the early disabilities and as a parent i am so grateful. now cole will have more opportunity and as a member of congress it makes me think that it's my turn to carry that baton and continue to work for more opportunities when would make tremendous progress and whether it is the transition to

adulthood and employment and independent living there's more that needs to be done in that area. the estimate 70 to 80% are unemployed. many of them have a lot to offer and would like to be employed. so i have been working a lot on addressing those barriers to employment. working with senator harkin that's another thing. he opened up the doors for me and have relationships i would have never had otherwise across the aisle, the house and senate. when he was born u.s. to become eunice kennedy shriver called and said you need to have a cup of tea with teddy one of these days so we can't talk about all of these issues.

i would have never had the opportunity to build these relationships or to understand these issues the way that i do if it hadn't been for cole. >> as a mom were you nervous current? >> you give a lot of thought to what might have been. but the odds based on your age first of all -- and i was told that because we had one child with down syndrome which is a duplicate 21st chromosome, the most common and now the. but there's a lot of different chromosome abnormalities that would have a 1% greater risk. my husband and i gave it a lot of thought but ultimately concluded that we didn't want to

look back one day and say i wish we would affect more children because we both loved being parents and we want that in our lives and we decided ' we were going to go ahead knowing the risks and having a second. grace was born in 2010 and is doing really well. we of number triet expected this year and it is a tremendous blessing in our lives. cole and grace get along great. i can already see where he's having a very positive impact and she's having a positive impact on him to the estimate your district is in washington

state. you are a mother, wife, representative rice so how do you juggle it all? >> there is a whole team of people that make it possible. i might be of front but first of all the tremendous support of my husband, he is retired from the navy, has never been married, never been a data still dreaming of that happen. he didn't imagine living in washington, d.c. being mr. mom but he is embracing this at this time of our lives and i couldn't ask for more support. >> how did you meet him? >> i met him at a campaign barbeque this summer after i was elected to congress. his sister worked on my campaign and introduced them to another volunteer and at the end of the

evening he said i think i would like to meet cathy. then we started corresponding. our first date was at the naval academy, the naval academy graduate. i was on the armed services committee and he thought that i should leave the naval academy and go to football games so it has been a great special blessing. it's having the support of my family, my extended family, my mom and brian's family and parents and sisters and brothers. so they offer a lot of support for us when we are home and then a great team, i have a great staff and the thousands of supporters that i have. so it is a whole bunch of people that make it possible for me to

do that. i contend that this job they are not that different than other working moms. mine might be more high profile and people may see me on the camera. but day in and day out, the challenges of getting the kids ready for school or helping them with their homework and the stresses of wanting to be a good mom and a good life but then also the demand of the job some days you handle it better than other days and that's normal. i am grateful for the opportunity to live been given and the people that made that possible for me to do what i'm doing here on capitol hill as well as the tremendous blessing of being a mom. estimate how often do you get back to the district and

maximize the flight time between here and washington state? >> that flight time is my time. the hours in the rest of the week clay often have -- often have did this so i've come to enjoy the flight. it's a seven or eight hour trip from washington, d.c.. there is no direct flight. so i have to fly some place and then get their. but it's quiet time. it's time for me to do some reading and catch up on the notes i want to write or just have some time to myself. when i get home it varies in the course of the year but two or three times a month we have at least once on the -- once on

month now we have time we can go home for the week and i just maximize those days and get around the district. i have a large district so it took awhile to get around the district, but we are making it work. at the beginning brian mo the travel back and forth with me. and after evin cole was born we still tried having them and i was going back-and-forth every weekend, which it was a long trip to make every weekend i found that i was tired and still had limited time the family. i find it's better to have the family based here in washington, d.c. where i could go on some evenings at least in the deal with them and then we have our time together in the morning and

then fit the travel around that. but when i do go on to the district i'm not trying to spend time with the family and get around the district. so we are making it work and i think every family, every member of congress has to decide how best to organize that. >> let me ask you some policy issues because you have been a leader in the republican party and you made a comment recently the party doesn't need to be more moderate, but more modern. give specifics, how so? >> i don't believe that the republican party needs to change what it stands or, the principles and the values that we believe in a house republicans that have been a longstanding but i do think the the republicans have to do a better job of connecting our

policy positions with how people live in the 21st century and also using 21st century communication tools that the days of issuing a press release or going on tv to do television ads, that isn't connecting as much. we talked a little bit earlier about social media. in the 2008 election when president obama was able to create this network of 12 or 13 million people in america that was a wake-up call to me. and we have seen where technology has revolutionized so many areas of our life. it's also revolutionizing the way that members of congress and representatives connect with the people that day represent and that republicans need to embrace the tools we have for

communication. so when i first ran for leadership i was focused on bringing the republicans into the 21st century as it related to social media. when i was first elected, 30% of our members that were on tauter or facebook in 2008 after the election and today we have 95% and members that still vote using pagers rather than converting to the blackberrys were smart phones to have made that transition and members that have been here for many years recognizing that the needed change. i remembered jerry lewis out of the los angeles area he described as the difference between when we went from radio to television that is the same kind of communication transition going on today where people get their news, the internet both

personally and professionally and their communication is very different. it's digital. so after the election, i concluded that it wasn't about the republicans needing to moderate but we do need to modernize. so part of it is on the communications side if it and this is on the leadership team. i'm charged with the communication strategy for the republicans and house. a lot of our work has been on taking our method to the come message to every corner and is engaging people from every walk of life, every demographic group and we started organizing the meat of this for example where as republicans on capitol hill we sit down with millennials from around the country and talk to them about issues on their mind and even listen and just have a dialogue with them. we've done that with vietnamese americans, hispanics, we have

another one coming up within the americans, but it is to build relationships and talk with people from all different dhaka announced as to what is on their mind and hear from them. that was one of the take away is is that they didn't think the republicans cared about them. that is pretty fundamental. so we have been doing a lot of that. and then using digital tools to take our message to every corner and highlighting the talent. we were younger than the democrats, five years on average, the leadership team 16 years on average younger than the democrats. most people think of the republicans now that we are the party of the old rich white guys when in reality you look at who

the young people are we need to present a broad space and really demonstrate to people in this country that republicans represent them and others republicans in office that represent them support of it is related to the communications side and the other part is on these issues in particular we need to do a better job of making sure that when we are talking about let balancing the budget in ten years, that is a goal that we have and we are challenging our friends on the other side of the ideal in the senate and the administration to join us. but to get to the next step. why is that important to seniors and the college grads and

hard-working american families? so in my mind that is part of modernizing its to read its talking about issues that people in 2013 can relate to around their kitchen table in their homes as to what our priorities are and vision is for this country and those aspirational goals that we have. >> as an institution is the congress working, is the house working the way that you expected it to be? >> there is room for improvement people recognize this as a difficult time in the country to the when you look at congress from an outside perspective it was pretty simple.

the house was supposed to pass this bill and the senate and then you go to the conference committee and you put it on the president's desk and in reality you just see that isn't the way that it's been working. it's too much of congress based on crisis management where we go from one crisis to another. >> how do you fix it? >> that's where i need really appreciated the speaker and the leadership he's brought in the house. when he became the speaker what his goals was to restore the institution and self and return to what he called a regular order that is to restorer how the institution is supposed to operate. he was a committee chairman said he understood the important role that the committees have in this

process. so, as simple as it may sound, it's important that a bill start in the committee and that you have the hearings and the debate and that republicans and democrats both have the opportunity to offer the amendment and to through that process get a better outcome than if it is all done in the speaker's office. to empower the chairman and to encourage them coming you need to take a lead on these issues and put together the legislation when it comes to the floor it's up to do. okay this bill was ready to go. now you need to come up with the votes over. having said that you have to figure out how to get to the 218

and the leadership that i see right now is in the house to be figuring out how do we find that sweet spot or the 218 members that are willing to support a particular bill to move it forward and that has to be in conjunction with leadership and the committee chair. islamic you've been in the minority and the majority. why is there such a grid lock? are the two parties not talking to each other? >> i think for the republicans in the majority right now we believe this is a critical time for the country economically. we have to get people back to work. the fact that we have the lowest work force participation rates in 2008 is unacceptable that we are on the wrong path and that

we need to stand firm on policies to get the economy going and that is where you hear us talking about the importance of tax reform and balancing the budget in ten years, the importance of spending reform, spending reductions before just raising the debt ceiling yet there is resistance. on the other side of the nile u.s. president obama say in where is the debt ceiling with no conditions. the reason we find ourselves in gridlock is because that's never going to happen. that's never going to be acceptable to the republicans to raise the debt ceiling without some conditions to attest to that. even president obama when he was a u.s. senator he said it was irresponsible for us to continue to add on to the deficit to have

these -- and to the debt and have these record deficits. we needed to take action yet it is a lot easier to talk about what needs to be done verses actually doing the hard work of getting it done. the reason that we find ourselves where we are right now is because the politically difficult decisions we have to make. it means that we are not going to be a will to just continue the current task that america has been spending way beyond its means for many years but we have reached that point we can't just continue down this path that is impacting our economy and our military, it impacts our children and the country they are going to inherit whether america is and the strong. i think the reason it is

difficult right now is because these are difficult decisions we have to make but it's also these are very important and they may not be politically popular back home and you start talking about reforming programs or reducing spending at the federal level, but it needs to happen in order for america to be strong moving forward so there's a tug of war right now between what's politically popular verses what really needs to happen. >> this location is part of the original capital, your office here? >> yes. this wall right here used to be part of the outside wall of the original capital and then when the expanded the capitol in the mid 1850's and 60's, this was all added on when they added the

house and the senate so it's pretty special and has a great view of the mall looking west to washington state. >> your biography says you have a passion for history. if you could talk to somebody in american history, who would that be? >> right now i think with the george washington. i so add my year to him and talk about important leadership he brought at a difficult time for this country. he was someone that was highly regarded, steady as you go type of hand and actually was put in a position that he didn't necessarily seek but people said we need you and we need your leadership at this time.

those were difficult decisions they were making. they didn't always agree, very passionate debates sometimes your friends and allies and pulling in a different direction so i think there's some parallels there and i would love to sit down and talk with george washington and hear him just share both what they were facing when they were found in this country and then any perspective you could give us today would be especially helpful. >> would he recognize congress the way it is today? >> i would hope so. in some ways i don't think that our founding fathers never imagined that the legislative branch would be necessarily as weak as i see it right now. they said that the legislative branch would be the most powerful branch within three branches of government but there is a struggle between the branch and the government between the executive branch and the

judicial branch and legislative branch and the foresight to know that you want to have that balance of power you don't want to have just one person in charge. you want to separate power and have checks and balances i think it is so why is and is served an important role. on behalf of the people we represent in the legislative branch need to stand up to the executive branch and the judicial branch. >> two final questions. do you have a chance to read? >> it kind of depends. >> what are you reading now? >> i picked up peggy noonan's book on what i thought of the revolution which was her time in the white house under ronald reagan. i am almost done with that one and by men joining rereading it. and then -- will come about and my baby name book.

>> so no decision yet? >> no. >> do you have any desire to seek higher office? some have said he might run for president or leadership in the house or u.s. senate. >> we will see to it i am honored to be representing the people of eastern washington here and compress. i don't have any plans to be running for any of those other offices. i'm honored to be here and i am committed to working hard being the best representative i can be for the people of east washington and also working with my colleagues around the leadership table to provide important leadership for the republicans in the house right now hopefully providing some vision and clarity as to where we want to take the country

moving forward. >> representative cathy mcmorris rogers. >> thank you. >> that was cathy mcmorris rogers of the lawmakers serving in washington, d.c. part of our american profiles ceres and on capitol hill this week we will be seen to hearings scheduled to look at the problems implementing the federal health care law. tomorrow the administrator of the centers for medicare and medicaid services. she was last before a committee talking about the health care law before it was implemented on the web site that was august 1st the and you can go back and watch her testimony on line at this he's been video library to read this week she testified before the house ways and means committee. we will have live coverage at 10 a.m. eastern on our companion network c-span three. wednesday

>> welcome to the montana state capital. this building was built in 1899 and completed in 1902 but montana became a state in 1989 it took about ten years to get our ducks in a row and then we added to winnings on either side of the building in 1912 and in 1999 the building underwent a huge restoration project to replicate its grandeur from that part of. so what you see today is pretty much what it would have looked like about 100 years ago. >> among the discoveries it

really was one of the major discoveries of some 18 or $19 million. in the 1860's currency was taken out of this place. it's really obvious where there was a lot of money. they say that there was more per capita here than any other place but that's never been proven. it's a legend. but it is a place where you can see the wealth put into the community in the 1880s and 1890's and earned her the nickname the queen city of the rockies because of that. ♪ we look at the history of literary life of helena sunday

at five on c-span2. >> author neil on the call for scientists and engineers. >> as nasa's engineer goes so too does that of america and nasa's healthy, then you don't need a program to convince people that science and engineering is good to do because you will see it writ large on the paper. they will call for engineers to help you go ice fishing where there's been liquid for billions of years. we are going to dig through the soil that would give the the best biologists. look at the national portfolio today. it's got biology, chemistry, physics.

science technology engineering and math represented in the nasa portfolio. nasa is a wheel that society catches for innovation. >> just hours after the japanese attack on pearl harbor and before her husband underestimation first lady eleanor roosevelt was on the radio talking with america. >> i'm speaking to you tonight in a very serious moment in history. the cabinet is convening and meeting with the president. they convened with the president all afternoon in fact the japanese ambassador was talking to the president of the very time that the airships were

bombing our citizens and sinking of our transports loaded with members. in the meantime, we the people are already prepared for action. for months now the knowledge that something of this kind might happen has been hanging over our head and yet it seemed impossible to believe and to feel that there was only one thing that was important, preparation to meet an enemy no matter where he struck. that is all over now and there is no more uncertainty. we know what we have to face, and we know that we are ready to face it.

>> before the senate to gavels hu a look at the senate chaplais >> when our federal shut down the lease payments of death benefits to the families of children diene on faraway for battlefields, it's time for our lawmakers to say enough is enough.your cover our shame with the road you're righteousness, forgive us, reform us and make us whole.

we pray in your name, amen. >> i write my prayers out of the overflow of my devotional life. i read the bible every day probably for at least an hour. i read the bible to prepare sermons and for my personal spiritual growth and out of the overflow of my devotional life, my prayers emerge. what i get devotional the, i connect to my pastoral interaction with our lawmakers, the members of the family, the members of their staff to the theater people who make up the side of capitol hill so my prayers consist of a synthesis of devotion and pastoral

outreach to this back during the shutdown you use pretty strong language and things like save us from the madness, deliver us from hypocrisy, forgive them the wonders they have committed. are you making a political point when you are saying those things? >> i don't think i was attempting to make a political point, i think i was trying to describe the environment that i found myself in. i am a pastor first and foremost. i am not a politician. i am descriptive rather than prescriptive. so, what i was describing was the phenomenon that i saw on both sides of the aisle. i think for instance i made a statement removed the burdens of those who are the collateral damage of this federal shut down. most of my members were

furloughed, and i'm aware of the burdens they have to bear. i made a plea for there not to be a delay in death benefits to the grieving families of our fallen warriors, i did that primarily because i had made scores of death notifications to next of kin as a navy chaplain for 27 years and i appreciate the in come nature of their grief, so i was praying out of pastoral concern rather than trying to make a political point. >> did you feel as though you were giving a voice to some of those people who were furloughed or for military families? >> i think that a critical part of prior is to left to god the concerns and the needs of the people that you serve so you are

a voice for the voiceless. >> what was the response you got from senators and other lawmakers? >> i think someone who may have been upset about some of my prayers would probably be a little reluctant to come to me and say so so most of the feedback i received from both sides of the aisle, the feedback was very, very positive. but you have to understand i see these lawmakers on a regular basis. we participate in a weekly prayer breakfast and a weekly bible study so they know me. they've also been listening to me pray for over ten years. i mean, 99% of the prayers that have been offered at the convening of the senate for the last decade have been offered by me. so they know that when i go off

the script, the notice must be very important. if you cry wolf in every prayer when it comes time to say something that is pertinent and urgent, no one is going to be the few. so the pointed nature of my prayers as i would describe them rather than the scolding nature of my prayers i think reflect the fact that most of my prayers are fairly classic. it is only when i am convinced that something urgent needs to be said. and remember i am not directing this to the lawmakers i'm directing it to the sovereign god of the universe. i think they take that veryful seriously because the scolding aspect is not the normal quality of my praying to get what would your response be to people who

say what about separation of church and state? >> the phrase separation of church and state first appeared in thomas jefferson's 1802 letter to the banbury baptist and if you read the context of that letter, he certainly was not talking about a bloody elimination of a spiritual element to government. on may 25th, 1787 at the constitutional convention in philadelphia it was benjamin franklin who insisted that they have prayer because they were trying to break an impasse. in 17e9 when the legislative branch got started, one of the first orders of business was to establish a chaplain. so the chaplaincy was established even before the start lachman calls of the first

amendment that states congress shall make no law establishing religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. the supreme court in chambers 1983 upheld the constitutionality of legislative prior so i think it is pretty clear that our framers intended that there be a spiritual dimension to government and about the separation of church and state was referring to the establishment of religion having an official state religion or governmental religion. and i don't think any lawmaker would want me to address any particular partisan issue. my position as non-partisan. every statement i have made in my session could apply to both sides of the aisle. i provide ministry in a political environment, so my

prayers will reflect material related to government because that's what politics, that's what the political process is all about, but it does not -- it does not bring up my prayers by deliberately avoided the partisan issues. i never talk about immigration reform, i've never talked about same-sex marriage or pro-choice or pro-life or anything like that in the decade plus that i've been praying and i wouldn't be addressing partisan issues so i pray as we said earlier out of the overflow of my devotional life and pastoral outreach not to bring issues to the floor in my intercession. >> what is your favorite part about being chaplain? >> my favorite part about being the 62nd chaplain of the united states senate is that it provides me with a front row seat to human history.

there's more written about the legislative branch of government in our constitution than any other branch and i have the privilege of having a front row seat to the legislative process. i think most people are not so much afraid of dying as they are never having truly lived. anyone who has a front row seat to human history can shuffle off of this coil absolutely certain that he or she has truly lived. >> and have seen it with our own eyes. you're great power on our behalf what our ancestors told us about you, how you kept them from de re